The History of NASKA

Although not in name at the time, the NASKA’s seed was planted in 1977 when the executive editor of “Karate Illustrated” Magazine, Renardo Barden, started publishing competitor regional ratings in an attempt to create some order in the world of tournament karate around the country. KI rated competitors in 12 regions across the US. From these regional ratings, KI, through various subjective methods, rated 36 men fighters in 3 categories, Top Twelve Overall, 12-1st Honorable Mention, and 12-2nd Honorable Mention. KI’s ratings system went through many changes in the early years and progressed soon into ratings black belt men, women and children in form, weapons, and fighting. A few years later, KI began rating tournaments as well, awarding them ratings of A, B or C according to 11 set criteria. These criteria were: 1) Level of Fighting Competition; 2) Level of Form Competition; 3) Level of Organization; 4) Level of Hospitality; 5) Quality of Hotel accommodations; 6) Style Prejudice; 7) Regional Shaft Factor; 8) Punctuality; 9) Tournament Venue; 10) Transportation to Tournament Site; 11) Overall Size of Event. Of the ten original tournaments KI gave the top rating of “A” too, only today’s “Battle of Atlanta” and “Diamond Nationals” were among them.

Although Karate Illustrated Magazine did exceptional work in their achievement of organizing and rating tournament karate, in 1986 they decided that 9 years were enough and discontinued the tournament/competitor ratings service. By 1986, most of the current World NASKA tournaments had become part of the KI nucleus of “A” rated tournaments. Not wanting to see the ratings system end, the promoters of the “A” rated tournaments agreed to stay together and keep the rating system alive. The promoters of the Battle of Atlanta, Diamond Nationals, US Open, Ocean State Grand Nationals, New England Open, AKA Grand Nationals, Blue Grass Nationals, US Capitol Classics and a few other tournaments that are no longer around, all joined forces and created, “NASKA” (North American Sport Karate Association). NASKA has added additional world tournaments throughout the years and now has 15 World tour tournaments along with National and State tournaments as well. (See tournament the section for more details)

Since 1986, NASKA has continued to sanction the World’s most prestigious karate tournaments to give karate’s greatest athletics a forum to display their talents. The following lists of champions are only a few of the great tournament karate athletics to inspire and amaze audiences on NASKA’s grand tournament stages in the past 25 years:

 

Forms and Weapons:	Fighting:
Amy Wisdon	Alex Lane
Andrew Cabilan	Alvin Prouder
Anthony Atkins	Anthony Hollaway
Anthony Marquez	Antony Price
Anthony DeMarco	Arlene Limas
Arnold Chon	Billy Blanks
Caitlin Dechele	BJ Carnahan
Carmichael Simon	Bobby Harris
Casey Marks	Bobby Tucker
Charlie Lee	Brain Ruth
Chris Cassamassa	Brenda Hund
Cynthia Rothrock	Chavella Aaron
Dale Kirby	Damon Gilbert
Daniel Sterling	Dan Anderson
Dave Macomber	David Deaton
Deanna Bivins	Dottie White
Dennis Brown	E.J. Greer
DX	Elias Lemon
Elsa Cordero	Gerald Dawson
Ernie Reyes	Greg Betlach
Ernie Reyes Jr.	Hakim Alston
Gabe Reynaga	Hamed Firouzi
George Chung	Herb Johnson
Helen Chung	Jadi Tention
Hosung Pak	James Hobby
Hoyoung Pak	Jason Tankson
Jean Frenette	Jerry Fontanez
Jimmy Pham	Jerry Prince
John Chung	Jessey Thorton
John Su	Joey Greenhalgh
Jon Valera	Joey Shiflett
Joshua Kahan	Jose Pacheco
Kalman Csoka	John Longstreet
Kathy Quan	Keith Vitali
Karen Sheperd	Ken Eubanks
Keith Hirabayashi	Linda Denley
Kevin Thompson	Mallory Woods
Larry Lamb	Marty Eubanks
Lauren Kearney	Mike Genova
Lorie Lantrip	Mike Green
Marc Canonizado	Mike Pombeiro
Marcel Jones	Mike Smith
Matt Mullins	Mitzi Tyler
Michael Chaturantabut	Nicki Carlson-Lee
Michele Krasnoo	Pedro Xavier
Mike Bernardo	Preston Clements
Mindy Kelly	Ray McCallum
Ming Liu	Raymond Daniels
Pei Yun Li	Reggie Perry
Peter Morales	Rhonda Alexander
Phillip Wong	Richard Plowden
Richard Brandon	Robert Harris
Rocky Dirico	Ross Levine
Scott Wu	Ryan McGriff
Sonny Onowo	Sammy Montgomery
Stefanie Flowers	Scorpion Burrage
Steven Ho	Shah Alston
Steve Terada	Steve Curran
Steve Torres	Steve “Nasty” Anderson
Stuart Quan	Steve Fisher
Suzanne Wancket	Steve Perry
Taylor Lautner	Sue Lomasney
William Cornell	Terry Creamer
Tony Young